God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

This week's sermon: "In Him Was Life"

Before the universe exited, there was Life. Ultimate Reality is personal. Life is what gave rise to matter. In eternity past, God the Father and God the Son shared perfectly and fully in that which is truly life.

But this reality, true and glorious as it is, is not what the apostle John has in mind when he writes, "In [Jesus] was life." What he does mean is that in Jesus is spiritual life, saving life, the life of the new birth. Not only is Jesus the Life that created all material life, but he is the Life that causes all new, spiritual, eternal life.

Three simultaneous realities occur in the imparting of this new life: new birth, new sight, and new faith. God causes us to be born again in uniting us together with his Son; in so doing, God opens our spiritual eyes; and as our eyes open, we see the light of who Jesus is and what he has done for us as true and beautiful and saving. These are three angles on one saving, life-giving event.